Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Oct 2004
An analysis of the determinants of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.
To establish what population characteristics affect the high maternal mortality rate in the sub-Saharan Africa region and to propose possible solutions to reduce this rate. ⋯ The availability of skilled delivery personnel, life expectancy, national economic wealth, and health expenditure per capita predict the maternal mortality rate of a country. Based on these findings, it is recommended that structural arrangements be made to train skilled health personnel to take care of maternal health problems. In view of the high cost of training physicians, middle-level health personnel may offer an affordable alternative to handle emergency obstetrical cases to address the shortage of physicians. In addition, the allocation of adequate resources to the health sector could improve maternal mortality. The economic wealth of a country and life expectancy at birth are less modifiable through short-term specific interventions. Additionally, it is recommended that country-specific interventions are needed to correct the problem of lack of critical data for analysis.